Kings Langley slump to defeat at Basingstoke

Having met in the Southern League Premier a mere five weeks ago, Basingstoke were keen to avenge their 2-0 defeat.

For Kings it was a night to forget as they probably produced their worst half of the season so far and one totally at odds with the performance of the previous match.

Both teams began this contest at a lively tempo, with Michael Atkinson having a speculative shot held by Danny Boness and a neat through ball by Josh Hutchinson giving Ryan Plowright the chance to testAlex Tokarczyk.

Hutchinson then had a shot on the run inches past the post into the side netting, while a Sam Deadfield rasper was just wide at the other end, but the first clear chance fell to Lewis Toomey, whose lack of match sharpness after a lengthy injury counted against him when he directed his finish wide from an unmarked position.

Kings were dealt a blow when Josh Chamberlain had to be substituted after a knock on 26 minutes and the reshuffled line-up seldom looked as dangerous thereafter.

There was a deja vu moment when Boness again denied Atkinson at the foot of his post, while the visitors responded with a wayward Stevie Ward shot after some good approach work.

The half finished goalless, but high on entertainment value and few could have foreseen the demise of Kings after the break.

Town had upped the pressure from the restart with Deadfield bringing a superb save from Danny Boness and Charlie Kennedy seeing his header held by the keeper, but their downfall began when Kyle Anthony terminated a surging run from behind and Richie Whittington converted confidently.

The Dragons now smelt blood and striker Romone Rose blasted over from a good position and then hit the post minutes later. The away cause was hardly helped when Jorell Johnson had to vacate the defence and the pitch through injury, but their game plan was in tatters and it was little surprise when another mistake gifted substitute George Hallahan the ball to run on and beat the keeper with seven minutes to go and kill off any thoughts of an unlikely comeback.

Salt was rubbed into the wound when Emmanuel Folarin lost the ball on the touchline and the cross found Hallahan, allowing him to complete a brace in his 18 minutes on the pitch.